City to replace flooded cop car

The Cassville Police Department is looking to replace one of its vehicles that was declared totaled after being flooded on April 28.

Dana Kammerlohr, Cassville Police Chief, said insurance paid out $11,000 on the 2014 Ford Explorer, used as a patrol and D.A.R.E. vehicle, and the city should have money in capital improvement funds to replace it.

"If we get our bulletproof vest grant, we can use those funds toward the vehicle," she said.

Kammerlohr said the vehicle, which had $66,000 miles on it, was totaled after an officer drove into a drainage ditch deeper than originally thought. She said the radio and repeater in the vehicle were not damaged, but the lights and siren speaker will likely not work.

"We may have to forgo an awning we had planned to put on the back of city hall, and hold off on repairing some hail damage," she said.

A new patrol vehicle would run about $28,500. Kammerlohr said the Bulletproof vests cost $13,000, but the grant would knock $8,000 off that cost. Another $8,000 can be saved by holding off on the awning. That $16,000, plus the $11,000 from insurance, puts the department at $1,500 short of the cost of a new car. The difference will be made up with capital improvement funds.

The department has seven vehicles total, and replacing the totaled one would return its fleet to full force.

"We will go to the council with the bid at the July meeting, and if it is approved, we will order it the next day," Kammerlohr said. "After that, it takes about three months to get it."